Delivery of mixed liquids from two or more sources is known. For instance, this approach to mixing liquids immediately prior to use has been used to ensure efficacy of the post-mixed cleaning product. Those cleaning products are often sold in portable containers to facilitate portability and dispensing in a variety of locations. The portable containers may comprise a box with two or more pouches disposed therein.
The mixing of liquids immediately prior to use is not limited to cleaning products. For instance, soda fountains that prepare soft drinks (and other beverages) by mixing a flavor syrup with either plain or carbonated water are well-known. Some dispensers allow selective dispensing of either one or both of the fluids simultaneously. In some dispensers, the valves may be regulated by the end user. In others, the regulation is pre-established.
These beverage dispensers may include one or more inlets each connected to a fluid source. Such dispensers may include a pair of lever arms attached to a respective one of the valves that extend outwardly from the inlets so as to dispense fluid when the respective lever arms are actuated. Some of these assemblies are electrically operated. Others are mechanical. Valve assemblies can be used in either a gravity or a pressure dispenser, and dispense liquids at either a standard flow rate or a fast flow rate. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,921,605; 3,088,490; 3,167,090; 3,655,097; and 4,741,355).
In many soft drink dispensers, a mixing spout and chamber allows for mixing and dispensing the fluids. In some cases, separate levers can be used to enable selective individual operation of the valves to allow either fluid to be dispensed.
It is also known in the beverage arts to mix beverage concentrates and a diluent in predetermined proportions. For example, drink dispensers for fruit juice beverages prepare the beverages by mixing a concentrated product (e.g. orange juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, soda syrups, etc.), with a desirable proportion of water to provide a consumable drink product. The ratio of water to concentrate typically range from 2:1 (i.e. two parts water to one part concentrate) to 10:1. Due to differences between concentrates problems may arise in maintaining proper mixing ratios. Further problems arise from pulp and the relatively high and temperature-dependent viscosity of fruit juice concentrates, which make it difficult to directly measure the flow of such concentrate in the preparation of a drink, in turn making it difficult to control the ratio of water to concentrate. In an effort to achieve the desired ratio of water to concentrate, most fruit juice dispensers rely on a flow of a concentrate delivered by a metering pump (e.g. a peristaltic pump) operated at a pre-determined constant speed into a constant flow of water to provide the desired water to concentrate ratio. Such systems provide a beverage dispensing system in which first and second beverage elements are brought together in a mixing chamber in a predetermined ratio that is maintained constant by regulating flow of at least one of the elements.
Some standard beverage valves require manual adjustment of water-to-concentrate ratio and then readjustment based on seasonal changes in temperature. In such dispensers, trained technicians must adjust carbonators during summer months when the water temperature is higher. After adjusting the carbonator, the technician must then readjust the water-to-concentrate ratio of each valve, which can take a significant amount of time and result in significant cost. Further, such valves require periodic cleaning. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,087,544; 6,450,369; and 7,156,359). Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a beverage dispenser that is inexpensive and easy-to-use.
One new approach to home beverage dispensing is the use of bag-in-box (BiB) packaging. Bag-in-box packages are inexpensive and easy-to-use. As such, bag-in-box packaging has already been used to store, transport, and dispense various liquids for human consumption, such as juices, wines, and edible oils. In order to dispense the substance from the bag, a connection must be made between fluid in the bag and the outside world. Usually this is done with a tap. The tap is usually a two-port valve with valve member and an actuator that opens and closes the valve member to control fluid flowing from the bag to the tap outlet or spout. Because these taps rely in some part on gravity to operate, the tap outlet tap has generally been oriented so that the liquid flows out of the tap in a downward orientation. Taps provide the added benefit of minimizing the potential contamination of the interior of the bag and the liquid contained therein.
Bag-in-box packaging for residential use has been gaining in popularity because BiB packaging can maintain the quality of the substance contained within the bags because they remain substantially hermetically sealed from the outside environment.
Bag-in-box packaging has also long been used in soft drink dispensing systems for the syrup bases. In these commercial systems, a plurality of BiB packages are used (one for each drink type). In these commercial systems, each BiB package has a valve that is connected to the soft drink dispenser, which draws the syrups out of the bag through the use of pumps into the dispenser where it is mixed with still or carbonated water. Bag-in-box packaging has also been used for liquid cleaners.
In some instances, bag-in-box packages contain more than one bag. Usually separate bags are used in applications where the mixing of “reactive” components could cause the ultimate mixture to lose its efficacy. In packages with multiple bags, it is known to provide separate taps for each bag in the package (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,871,679 and 5,425,583, European Patent Application Nos. 1 170 653 and 0 749 358, and PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 95/30856.). These prior approaches contemplate the mixing of the separate liquids in the container to which the fluids are separately dispensed.
It would be desirable to have a bag-in-box system that mixes two or more liquids while dispensing them from a single spout. Such a system would be particularly useful for preparing beverages that require two or more components, such as a mojito or pina colada.